Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology

This is the journal of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU), presenting UFO and paranormal cases from Spain, South America and the Caribbean

Friday, October 30, 2009

Patricia Hervias on "Los 32 Rumbos"

Patricia Hervias is a researcher, novelist (La Sangre del Grial, Edicions Smara, 2007) and world traveler who became known to U.S. readers through her articles in FATE magazine (one of them co-authored with yours truly) and contributions to IInexplicata. Patricia now embarks on a new odyssey: a website that bears the unusual name of “Los 32 Rumbos”, which translates roughly into “The 32 Bearings”

So tell us, Patricia – what does “Los 32 Rumbos” mean?

The actual meaning or what it means to us? Ha,ha! In fact, as all your readers are aware, the "32 bearings" are the bearings contained in the "Compass Rose" or "nautical rose" that sets out the bearings into which the horizon's circumference is divided. To us, our travels around the world can be divided across the horizon, along these 32 bearings...But let's cut to the chase: the fact is that we want to present the world and its mysteries in the most personal way possible. What we saw, what we experienced, what we ate, where we slept and what we found.

Are your focused on UFO/paranormal material, or more on “earth mysteries” and unusual places?

The truth is that we don't dismiss anything out of hand, and in fact, while travel is sometimes mundane, we end up rooting around to find a different story, a different world and a paranormal anecdote. This can be of any sort, and with all possible assurances, however.

Who are the contributors to your project?

There are only two contributors, in fact: Josep Guijarro, who you've already come to know as a multifaceted UFO researcher, and who currently directs Rutas Del Mundo magazine, and myself...this is something we're doing from the heart.

What would U.S readers find interesting about the site?

Absolutely everything, because we've visited Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Argentina and we are hoping to visit many more locations in the Americas to show things that aren't featured in any guidebook or pamphlet. And above all, the vast history and mysteries of Europe, which I'm sure will delight your readers...and if anyone wants to foot the bill for us to visit the U.S.A., we'd be delighted to visit (laughs)

Any there new book projects in your future?

I'm working on two projects: one of them is a book on witchcraft, and the other is a short story collection. Our ship's captain, Josep Guijarro, is working on a book about all our travels..we'll keep you abreast of any developments. Thank you so much, Scott, and we hope you'll visit us at www.los32rumbos.com

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Argentina: CE-3 "Repeater" in La Pampa

Source: CEUFO and Planeta UFODate: 10.28.09

Argentina: CE-3 “Repeater” in La PampaBy Quique Mario, CEUFO

A new and gripping CE-3 has allegedly taken place in the province of La Pampa over recent days, involving a woman who had a previous experience involving a similar type of creature in 2007. The entity was described as very thin and tall standing approximately 2 meters tall. Its apparently unexpressive face has sunken eyes, a flattened nose “like that of an ape” and the mouth is described “as resembling a fine line”.

The new episode was took place on Tuesday, October 20 shortly after 20:00 hours in a community of 1500 residents. When the witness recovered from the experience, she phoned her son, who lives a block away, and he in turn notified the Centro de Estudios UFO (CEUFO), which immediately sent a researcher to the location. The details of the case are set forth below and as has become customary, neither the experiencer’s identity nor the exact location are disclosed in order to keep the case from being mishandled by some sensationalist media outlets.

The protagonist was about to re-enter her home after saying goodbye to her grandson when she noticed the strange being’s presence in her living room. The woman, 65, gathered up her courage and headed toward an item of furniture with the goal of reaching for a digital camera with which to photograph the intruder. When she turned around to do so, the being placed one of its hands on her forearm. “At that moment I felt myself losing strength and fainting,” she said.

According to her family’s estimates, the woman remained unconscious between 15 and 20 minutes, after which she was able to phone her son, who rushed over to find her seated in an armchair experiencing a nervous breakdown. A chair and other elements of digital camera were strewn across the floor.

When she was sufficiently recovered from the ordeal, she explained that “the being appeared again” – referring to her 2007 experience. Her family immediately notified the Centro de Estudios UFO which arrived an hour later at the site to ascertain that [the entity] had indeed left strange prints on the woman’s forearm when it gripped her.

A small dog (Caniche), the woman’s only permanent company, was found cowering under an armchair, showing signs of having experienced a considerable fright.The marks on the woman’s forearm changed color and appearance as the hours went by. The next day, the largest mark had developed into a considerable blister and at 11:00 a.m., the woman reported that the strange being appeared yet again, this time to look at her arm and burst the blister, which produced an abundant quantity of viscous, yellowish fluid. Her relatives corroborated this.

As hours went by, the “marks” took various different shapes until the woman woke up in the early hours of Sunday, October 25, experiencing sharp pains. This prompted her to phone her son and other relatives, who to their surprise saw that very bright “metal filings” were visible in plain sight. Photos were taken of this and samples were collected; these in turn were submitted for analysis by CEUFO.

OutcomeThe case requires treatment by medical professionals, without question, and CEUFO advisors have been brought into the case to analyze the elements removed from the scene. Further attention is being given to the protagonist of the event and to comparisons with the previous experience recorded in November 2007.

Entity Descriptions

As stated earlier, the odd being stands nearly 2 meters tall. It is very slender but very strong, as the witness claims “losing her strength” as the creature placed its hand on her. With regard to its features, she said that its eyes “appear sunken into its face”, but that they emanate a sensation of “tenderness”. The nose was described as ape-like and the mouth as “a thin line” while its skin was greenish or dark grey, and with folds that give the impression of “wrinkles”. When asked about the number of fingers on the entity’s hands, she had the “sensation” that it had five fingers.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Peru: Chulucanas UFO Sightings Under Investigation

After the most recent sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), the peaceful city of Chulucanas will be visited by a group of UFO researchers headed by attorney Anthony Choy.

The event shall have two days in which the area known as Cerro Pilan will be visited, where strange lights are frequently seen, arriving from space.

According to accounts, on October 25, 2001, objects appeared in the vicinty of Cerro Pilan and landed in three different locations amid the wilderness. Twenty days later, on November 15, 2001, one of the objects entered the city, descending from the sky and spreading panic among the population.

Research agrees that the epicenter of this extraordinary phenomena is to be found in the enigmatic mountain. Ancient legends make reference to the summit as a "sacred and forbidden mountain" where people and livestock have vanished since time immemorial. Some of those who have managed to return say that they have become lost on the mountain, were unable to see the landscape, and when they managed to descend, they learn that three or four days have elapsed, despite having only been a few hours at the location.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Argentina: UFO Emerges from River at Punta Piedras

Source: Grupo G.A.B.I.E and Diario PopularDate: 10.23.09

Researchers of phenomena involving UFO refer to these events as “alerts” – they are meetings held at various parts of the country to skywatch and research so-called hotspots. The main goal, of course, is a direct expeirence with unidentified flying objects. A spectacular event took place at the locality of Punta Piedras, facing Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires: several experts in the subject were able to witness a red-hued sphere emerge from the water, ascend several meters as it changed its color to orange, and finally move away at full speed toward Uruguay.

The incredible case occured on July 25th at the locality in question, to the north of San Borombón bay, and had members of Grupo GABIE as its protagonists, who aside from researching UFOs, are also engaged in astronomy and other scientific studies. Pablo Lasa, Ariel Coppola, Martin Costes, Fernando Lisardo, Nicolas Lisardo and Catriel Lisardo were all present during this event.

According to their story, the skywatch was held at the “El Descanso” camping area in Punta Piedras. “The UFO skywatch and astronomical observation had been scheduled for the previous weekend, but it was necessary to postpone it for a week due to weather conditions,” they explained.

“It emerged from the water”

Of all the members of the group, it was Martin Costes who was able to see the phenomenon in greatest detail. “Pablo, Ariel, Fernando and his two sons were with me by the fire, discussing subjects related to astronomy, when the conversation took a twist and we started talking about UFOs,” he says. “After a few minutes of dialogue, I got up to import the meteorological data from the weather station into my notebook. Then I went back to the fire, which was only a few meters from the base. I standing there when something told me to go down toward the river. I decided to pay attention and go.”

At that moment, the episode that he will never forget occurred: “When I got thre, only seconds after watching the river, I saw a bright red sphere emerge from the water, rising approximately 15 to 20 meters, moving repeatedly from left to right, parallel to the river.”

A Strange Event

According to the witness, the object “began to vanish gradually until the distance kept us from seeing it. It should be noted that people at the campsite did not hear me calling, yet they were only five meters from my piosition. In other words, I wasn’t able to hear the conversations being held by the fellows over by the fire, and they claim not have heard me calling out. And that’s not all. Telescopes were aimed directly toward where the incident occurred at that moment. Another thing to be highlighted is that I remained in shock for 15 minutes after the sighting. This occurred at 1:00 in the morning,” remarks the specialist.

Costes (whose story can be heard on the Codigo OVNI radio program from August 31, 2009) explained that “the entire episode lasted some 3 minutes. The fellows managed to see some 30 seconds to perhaps a minute of the phenomenon.”

It Was Perfectly Round

Ariel Coppola was another of the experts who was able to see the phenomenon at Punta Piedras. “A perfectly round sphere, bright orange in color, could be seen. It was flanked by lights to its left and right, red and green in color, which twinkled like those of an airliner, as bright as a flash but with color,” he explained with regard to his experience.

Along with Fernando Lisardo, another of Grupo GABIE’s researchers remarked: “The time was already 3:30, the cold and dew caused us to break camp, and we put away our astronomical devices as we brought a very successful session to an end, as the excellent weather allowed us to meet goals that had been established beforehand, leaving us very satisfied.”

Argentina: UFO Over the Expressway

Source: Planeta UFODate: 10.23.09

Contributing editor Guillermo Gimenez sends us the following picture and information:

13042009 133515 San Luis This photo was taken on an expressway from San Luis to Mendoza by Mrs. Susana Gonzales of Bahia Blanca. When reviewing photos on the computer, she found this very special one and has submitted it to us for analysis.

This was a difficutl task. Several computer resources were applied to extract what can be seen in the photo, but this was sufficient to classify it as a UFO. The photo is genuine.

The UFO seen here is oval, solid, which a metallic chromatic reflex, UV reflection (non-absorbent) and light/shadow effects that outline its profile. Since it was not seen in plain sight, there is no further information to be contributed, but upon analyzing the camera's high shutter speed - 1/2000 - and the pixellation, we can ascertain that it was moving very quickly and at an altitude of 1000 meters (the object was large).

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Generalissimo vs. The Wolfman

Censorship is a tragic state of affairs, and censorship of the paranormal -- even paranormal fiction - is even sorrier. Journalist Carlos Prieto at www.publico.es describes Spain's harsh censorship of books and movies in an article on Alberto Gil's La censura cinematografica en España (Film censorship in Spain - Ediciones B, 2009).

Apparently nothing escaped the censor's prying eyes, not even Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Generalissimo Francisco Franco, according to Gil, would issue a slight cough whenever he watched a movie - a sign of his discomfiture at what he was seeing. His iron legion of censors would then get to work on a persecution that the author describes as "one of the most ruthless, extensive and arbitrary" of the 20th century.

But the Generalissimo had a special measure of loathing for works involving the paranormal. Horror movies, no matter how fantastic their plots, were deemed threats to the well-being of the state and the susceptible minds of the audience. One of these was Alexander Hall's award winning Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), about a prizefighter who dies before his time and is awarded a new body by an angel. Body-swapping flicks are a Hollywood staple (Freaky Friday, anyone?) but censors saw the germ of heresy in them. Hall's movie was classified as "laughable from a moral standpoint, as it accepts the reality of metempsychosis, reincarnation and the adaptation of bodies. This extreme degree of fantasy merits its suppression."

As could only be expected, the marauding zombies, mummies, wolf people and vampires that plagued B-movies for generations were not only enemies of the state, but also of the Church. Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi's "The Wolfman" (1941) was classified as "such a gross admixture of superstition and religion that it does not seem acceptable. "Dracula" was rejected as "a peril for the feeble-minded."

The censors sharpened their scissors, however, not for an American B-movie but a Mexican production straight out of Churubusco Studios: Director Rafael Portillo's La Momia Azteca (The Aztec Mummy, 1957). This time they did not bother attacking the subject of the film, but the intelligence of an entire nation, rejecting it as "a mixture of confusion and errors for the uncultured masses, which represent the majority" and "suitable to the cultural childishness of the Mexican people," chock-a-block with reincarnation, transmigration and other "shenanigans". One of the critics decreed: "It's not that I find it harmful, just imbecilic and suited for unlettered audiences."

One can only imagine that flying saucer B-movies must've given them indigestion...

A rancher living in an outlying district of the city of Loreto (Santiago del Estero) told police that a strange creature – known in popular mythology as “El Almamula” (the Mule Soul) has been attacking his animals and has already mutilated several of his pigs, eating “their eyes, tongues, livers and hearts.”

Santiago del Estero - 10/16/2009

The man, identified as Mario Prado, a resident of Barrio Emergencia on the outskirts of Loreto, presented a complaint before Section 27 of the Provincial Police, further informing authorities that he would wait in a corner of his house, fully armed, in an effort to slay the creature and put an end to the “goings-on”

“This situation doesn’t involve normal animals – it’s the handiwork of the Almamula, because it eats eyes, tongues, livers and hearts,” Prado pointed out, citing what he was told in turn by another local upon seeing the state in which his pigs had been found.

According to his explanation, this neighbor also informed him that he should arm himself and wait in the pen for the next attack, and to file a complaint with the police, which he finally did in recent days.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

CE-3: Argentina's Viale Case (1986)

In a society where everything seems to be going faster and faster (there was even a book on the subject – Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick), UFO research is no exception. The cycle of information blows past fascinating cases that deserved closer attention, and very often do not get it until much later, if ever. And so it is with the report forwarded to us by our contributing editor Guillermo Gimenez from the Argentinean resort city of Necochea: It is a CE-3 report from 1986 that readers of INEXPLICATA will surely find of interest.

Alberto Meyer is a young peasant, some 30 years old, of good stature and physical constitution. He has a primary school education and some secondary school. He lives with his family in a property he owns some scant 8 kilometers from the city of Viale, toward the locality of Segui. He works on all farm tasks: cares for animals, cultivates and takes care of all facilities on his property.

Two days prior to the E.D. 3/N (Diurnal CE-3, unassociated), he suffered a strange experience that could be linked to the UFO activity that was taking place in the area at the time. Meyer was chopping wood with a power saw at another property near his home. The chainsaw suddenly stopped dead for no apparent reason, while at the same time he heard a vibrating sound above his head, strong enough to cause the ground, the tool and his body to shake for several seconds. Confused, he looked upward to find the origin of the sound, but couldn’t see or hear anything. He later checked the tool, finding everything was normal. He activated the start mechanism and it worked perfectly. He assigned the event to some airplane or helicopter passing overhead at low altitude. Not paying much importance to the event, he continued his duties.

Two days later, some 100 meters from the location, he was loading his car with firewood he’d chopped months earlier. He was nearly halfway done with completing the “cord” of wood that had been ordered by a bakery from Viale, when he suddenly felt an odd sensation. Setting aside his tasks for a minute, he looked around. He noticed nothing new at the location, but when he stared at some shrubs in motion, he felt that an animal would soon appear. To his astonishment, two beings emerged instead.

At first he thought that they might be hunters, but a question crossed his mind: how did they cross the creek if there are no bridges, logs or rocks with which to do so? Hoping to find out, [Meyer] waved a friendly greeting, but there was no response. The beings stood some 30 meters away from him, staring fixedly. He thought that they had not heard him due to the wind, and decided to approach.

As he did so, he had a better look of the manner in which they were dressed. His first impression was that they were in costume, or perhaps fleeing from justice, or even worse, terrorists. But at a distance of eight meters, his legs were gripped by a sudden paralysis: he had no control over his body and his will seemed to dissipate. In spite of this, he never lost balance or use of his senses.

Motionless, but extremely calm, he was able to notice other details about the strange pair. Both of them wore form-fitting outfits, like overalls, made of a “flesh-hued” plastic material, but shinier than their faces. What caught his attention was the enormous size of their heads – completely bald and with upswept pointed ears. Their features were almost normal, although their noses were somewhat wider and their mouths were nearly invisible.

He realized that one of them was a “woman” by the shape of the body, but otherwise they beings were nearly identical in height (1.50 m). Their arms hung loosely at their sides and looked normal. He was unable to see their lower legs on account of the vegetation.

Suddenly, a sort of smile appeared on “her” lips and both entities withdrew in an incredible manner: it seemed as though both creatures were gliding on skates, negotiating the features of the terrain with agility. At that moment, Meyer recovered mobility and fled the area, seized by uncontrollable fear.

Research conducted at the site revealed a strange footprint exactly where the creatures stood.

The opinions gleaned from many locals who knew “Muñeco Meyer” (as his friends call him) agreed that he is a serious, honest and hard worker, unable to cobble up such an event. This then, is the Meyer Case.

Bolivia: Residents of La Paz Treated to UFO Sighting

A swarm of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) was seen yesterday in the skies of La Paz by residents of that city’s northern section. A physicist asked for restraint when making interpretations of this event.

According to witnesses, the objects were observed between 13:30 and 14:00 hours.

“We were on our way out when we saw strange objects flying in the sky, and that prompted several neighbors to come out and take a look,” said Guillermo Balboa, a resident of Calle Bolivar in the Agua de la Vida district.

With his eyes fixed on the horizon, he pointed his index finger at the point in the sky where he saw the two strange flying objects. These were spheres that drew the attention of locals, who contacted the media to express their alarm.

Balboa added that several objects remained aloft for over half an hour before “vanishing suddenly” without leaving a trace of their presence, or the direction in which they had headed.

”First I thought they were balloons, but when they started to glow intensely, I thought they might be flying objects, and within a few minutes, they’d vanished,” he explained.

Another person who refused to share their identity with this newspaper commented that she saw the object he left the house to go to the market, and refused to share additional details.

In this regard, Francesco Zaratti, director of the Laboratorio de Fisica de la Altura at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA), said that the very first thing to be done is “seek a natural explanation.”

“It is normal for people to see what they want to see up in the sky. There’s a trend among the population to identify situations of this type. In this case, I would not be surprised if they were atmospheric balloons launched to measure atmospheric pressure,” adding that in several instances, atmospheric balloons launched from Brazil are dragged by air currents and people mistake them for strange flying objects.

Regarding the alleged presence of unidentified material in the sky over La Paz, he advised that such statements require extreme caution. “I will not believe unless there is an explanation as to the cause.”

In order to confirm if the SENAMHI, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service, was conducting atmospheric tests, this newspaper unsuccessfully tried to obtain a response over the phone. Efforts to contact the San Calixto Observatory in La Paz were equally fruitless.

Further details

The most recent sighting of strange objects over La Paz was on July 26 at 15:00 hours. Pedestrians at the intersection of Avenida Pando y Montes saw strange flying objects in the sky.

In October 2005, thousands claimed to have seen lights in the sky over Oruro. The case has not yet been explained.

According to “El Deber”, personnel from the U.S. space agency (NASA) visited the country in 1978 and allegedly recovered an extraterrestrial craft that collided 25 kilometers from the mining community of La Mamora.

This incident was reported by Argentinean researcher Pablo Romaniuk, who was also a member of his country’s Accident Investigation Board at the time.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Argentina: Saucers, Researchers and Cash Register Tape

With 66 sightings recorded in 2008, Calamuchita seeks to wrest the Punillas’s sceptre as the capital of Ufology

Capilla del Monte’s UFO empire is under attack. The national capital of UFO sightings is not under siege from intergalactic spaceships, but rather, an uprising in the valley of Calamuchita, which is claiming pride of place in the UFO world.

This is a silent conflict. And like all conflicts, it conceals economic motives: the thousands of ufologists who lodge, eat and make purchases in the communities of both locations, attracted by the phenomenon.

While Calamuchita is featured on any self-respecting ufologist’s map – stemming from sightings of alien spacecraft for decades – there was a true boom last year. Martha Núñez, a resident of Santa Rosa de Calamuchita and known as “the UFO Huntress”, began photographing alleged flying saucers with her digital camera. These records were analyzed and systematized by researcher Luis Burgos, who published them on the Internet, unleashing the incipient wave of visitors (terrestrial ones) to the communities of the picturesque valley.

The pilgrimage does not yet compare to the one at Capilla del Monte, where some 100,000 people, many of them from abroad, ascend Mount Uritorco every year. It is worth remembering that until the UFO phenomenon exploded, only 400 climbers a year ascended the mythic peak.

A New UFO Paradise? Cristina Torres, Secretary of Tourism at Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, makes it clear that the arrival of the ufologists isn’t an “invasion”. “In recent months there were random remarks made be people who have arrived to research the subject, and who have gathered at eateries. But we cannot describe it as a tourist movement,” explains the bureaucrat from the other side (of the telephone)

“Capilla del Monte claims almost exclusive rights over (UFOs), but the sky belongs to no one and it must be shared in peace,” she remarks, unlike ufologist Martha Nuñez, who claims that “people from all over the world have come to Santa Rosa” following the trail of the flying saucers. In 2008, the organization of which she is a member – Fundación Argentina de Ovnilogía – registered 66 ET cases in Calamuchita.

“Everyone wants to set up their own concession stand. A lot of money changes hands, like what happens with Our Lady of Salta,” Nuñez points out, explaining the financial motivations of the incipient conflict.

Adding mystery to the phenomenon, Nuñez points out that only a few days ago, she and her followers found mutilated cows in the fields surrounding Calamuchita. “One of them was alive, in spite of having been mutilated.” She quickly explains: “We are unsure as to how this relates to extraterrestrials, and we don’t know because no one has a direct line to these characters. But these things happen.

Susi Hoffman of the UFO Museum in Villa General Belgrano, acknowledges the increasing presence of foreigners. “Before leaving, some of them let us know telepathically that they are aliens,” she says in a German accent, convinced that extraterrestrials are “spiritual evolutions”.

From the ends of the Valley of Punilla, Jorge Suarez, director of Centro de Informes OVNI, claims that reports of an alleged wave of spaceships near Santa Rosa de Calamuchita “generated a beneficial tourist rebound” while stressing a difference he deems essential: “The number of witnesses in Capilla is overwhelming, and there is evidence that something exists.”

Suarez likewise cautions that “the difference” between Calamuchita and north of Punilla resides in that the number of UFO cases “recorded” at Uritorco is 90 cases a month, some 1080 a year. “Many more than the number documented at Santa Rosa de Calamuchita.”

Suarez, the Secretary of Tourism for that municipality in 1986 – when the famous imprint on Cerro El Pajarillo was discovered – abandoned his job to devote himself to ufology. He acknowledges “commercial and tourist interests are the dark side of Capilla del Monte. There are unsavory people here who say unsavory things. I hope the same doesn’t happen over at Santa Rosa.”

“It is frivolous and clumsy to approach this (the number of alleged ET vessels) like a football match: it is not necessary to resort to quantity in order to know that there is exceptional activity throughout the world,” Suarez remarks, explaining that the “skeptical press” tends to latch on to the UFO phenomenon for sheer fun, which favors “the delusions and excessive self-importance” of the pseudo-researchers.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Argentina: Cow Abducted by UFO - An Analysis

Argentina: Cow Abducted by UFO - An AnalysisBy Silvia Pérez Simondini

“There Can Be No Better Proof”

Many years ago, ever since 2002, VISION OVNI was expecting evidence such as this, simply because it is one of the most analyzed hypotheses that our team has worked with, since no traces of blood are ever found next to the mutilated animals, certainly indicating that animals were not being mutilated on site. Rather, they were being removed to another location, and evidently, no black helicopters were involved – only UFOs, unidentified flying object.

At this point in time I would like to know what happened to the red-muzzled mouse, what became of the famous Chupacabras, the yellow jacket, and the other explanations put forth by officialdom to dodge the subject of mutilations.

Personally speaking, I am more than pleased, as the number of animals seen by our team over the years deserved knowing that at least someone tried to find an answer to their deaths. And these answers came from a phenomenon we never dismissed out of hand, but rather, we always knew was the result of unknown hands, regardless of their origin.

We continue our research, but with a broader concept in mind, and if all certifications give us certainty that there can be no doubts whatsoever, we shall then be faced with a reality that is impossible to deny: the existence of an anomaly in space, capable of doing such things with utter impunity.

Field Research by Elias and Daysee Kolev

On September 8, 2009, members of VISION OVNI interviewed the witnesses of an extremely important event within UFO research.

On September 5, 2009, the couple made up of Laura, Sergio and her 7 year-old son were in Puerto Gaboto on the banks of the Coronada River during the afternoon, enjoying a visit. At a given moment the saw something over the island that drew their attention.

This is the eyewitness account:

“We were drinking mate with our son, when they saw something white in the air toward the island. When they looked through the photo camera’s zoom lens, they saw it was a cow and above it, something like a flying saucer suspended in the air. A distance of some 30 meters separated the cow from the saucer when the sighting occurred.”

According to their story, it was clearly evident that the saucer-shaped vehicle was “absorbing the cow”. Suddenly, both the cow and the vessel vanished from sight. It wasn’t a helicopter or any known type of aircraft. Those were their comments.

When we asked if the animal made any movements whatsoever, we were told that there was the sensation that the animal was completely relaxed or unconscious, that it made no movement whatsoever. The duration of the sighting from beginning to end was from 17:22 to 17:30 hours (8 minutes) and this time is recorded in the sequence of photos. The river is between 60 to 80 meters wide at that point, says Sergio.The photos show several animals on the island.According to residents of this island region, mutilated cows have been found on several occasions. The camera with which the photos were taken is a Sony DSC-W70. According to the reports of Channel 3 in Rosario, when inspecting the camera, a series of photos taken earlier were found along with the ones of the case. In each of these photo files, the header placed by the camera manufacturer is visible – Sony, in this case – and the date and time in which they were taken also appears. Therefore, unless some sophisticated technical work was involved, these are original, unretouched photos.

Up to now we have retold the recorded testimony of the eyewitnesses; the analysis yields the following results:

CAMERA Employed: SONY DSC-W170 10.1 megapixels.Image resolution as per the respective images analyzed.No modification or divergence was found regarding the subsequent editing information (enlargement) of the originals, using the same camera.

IMAGES:

THE BOVINE1) Objects shown in the images do not display digital manipulation in the adjoining pixels.2) There is a correspondence between brilliance and angle regarding the light source (the sun)3) In non-destructive super-resolution processes applied to the image, the animal turned out to be a bovine with its right side toward the camera, its head hanging to the left.4) It can be deduced that the animal photographed in the air was either lifeless or in a deep stupor, judging from its observed condition.5) We have managed to see its hooves, tail and head.6) The 3d analysis is self-evident.

DISTANCES INVOLVEDAccording to the eyewitnesses, they were a maximum of 60 to 80 meters from where the events took place, at the watercourse of the Coronada River where it meets the Caracaña.

THE OBJECT:1) In the opinion of this analyst, it had a diameter of between 8 to 10 meters and perhaps some 2.40 to 3 meters tall.2) Some sort of beam was captured by the camera, and we perhaps cannot appreciate it in its entirety due to some sort of camouflage, subsequently corroborate by the account.3) Applying filters, we can see that the UFO emitted perhaps high-ionization heat in its upper and lower sections.4) Volumetric analysis shows that it was a disk-shaped object whose brilliance corresponded to that of the sun.5) It is surrounded by some sort of triangular element and another circular one, or otherwise, plasma that the camera did not record in another shape.6) I highlight that the resolution of the images generates a lot of noise in the captures and implies a greater processing time.7) Insects were present in the photo shoot, but not in these 4 main ones.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Chile: A "Smallfoot" Report?

Source: IIEE-ChileDate: October 10, 2009

Chile: Report of a Strange, Ape-Like CreatureBy Raul Gajardo

According to information in our possession, we can say that Mr. Luis B.T., a well-known watchmaker and artist of Chile's 9th Region, shared a strange experience with his son in law in the winter months of 2006.

Luis's son in law, a truck driver who keeps very irregular hours, could not believe what he saw on the highway in June 2006 around midnight in the stretch between Los Angeles and Mulchén. On that occasion, he didn't carry any helpers with him, therefore there are no other witnesses to his sighting, but he recalls driving at a very regular speed without any other details to be added. Suddenly, in a stretch of road with little or no vehicular movement, he saw a strange creature resting quietly on the shoulder. The animal had a monkey-like appearance with short arms and very straight long legs. The driver managed to hit the breaks some 10 meters short of this creature. The apelike being did not move and turned its head toward the truck. He was then able to see that the animal had glowing red eyes and that the configuration (sic) or fur on its flesh was very odd, being covered with something resembling "short, whitish feathers."

The truck driver felt a shudder of fear in the light of such an odd situation. He halted the engine and several seconds went by, with the creature staring at him as he remained petrified with fear. The animal walked slowly, crossing the road, all the while fixing its gaze upon him. The witness remembers that the ape-like being was thickset, stood approximately over a meter tall, its head was proportional to its body and it had a large muzzle. It made no sound whatsoever. At no time did its extremities contact the ground and it walked upright at all times, "like a little man."

The truck driver was able to get a good look at it, keeping his vehicles lights on at all times. He adds that throughout the experience, the strange animal's attitude was "defiant, while passive."

At this time more information is being gathered on the trucker's strange experience, which remained hitherto unpublished and under strict family secrecy.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Argentina: Cow Abducted by Flying Saucer?

A couple traveling along the river in the area north of Rosario claimed having seen an animal being abducted by a flying saucer. "Later, the both vanished," they said.

The likelyhood that cows could fly was always relegated to the province of the impossible. But to Sergio and Laura, this changed last Monday afternoon, when they traveled along the coast near Puerto Gaboto, and believed that they saw a cow in the sky, abducted by a UFO.

The couple told the story to journalist Guillermo Brasca in a report transmitted by the Telenoche program on Channel 3. They provided photos which are not entirely clear, but which show the alleged UFO and what would appear to be a cow in flight.

"We went to have some mate with the kids, we were looking at the island and we were surprised to see some strange white thing flying. It was large. We made a close up with the camera and it was a cow flying, and above it, there was something like a flying saucer suspended in the air (some of the photos accompany the report). It wasn't a helicopter or an airplane," said Laura. The woman added: "It seemed as if the cow was being sucked up by the flying saucer. Then they both vanished. I want to believe that's what it was. To me, it was a UFO. I experienced it."

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Book Review: El Reloj del Fin del Mundo by Alfonso Ferrer

2012: That seems to be magic number these days. A chorus of voices, left, right and center proclaiming this date to be either the end of the world or the start of “something wonderful” (echoing the ghost of astronaut Dave Bowman in “2010” – two years short of target). Whether people will gather on hillsides, dressed in white linen, waiting for The End, remains to be seen.

Forecasting the end of the world is another of those games that anyone can join, a freewheeling speculative poker game of sorts. A date is proclaimed, anticipation builds, and when the eschatologists are proven wrong, citizens quietly return to their pre-apocalyptic lives. One book in particular influenced many lives – Rodolfo Benavides’s The Dramatic Prophecies of the Great Pyramid (Dramáticas profecías de la Gran Pirámide) – to the extent that many readers refused to raise families out of a fear for the hideous future in store. By the year 2005, said the book, humanity would be reduced to “short-lived radioactive mutants” after a series of nuclear wars, the birth of a new moon ripped out from the Pacific Ocean, and the approach of the rogue planet Hercolubus, whose presence in UFO/contactee/paranormal circles could fill several books. Luckily for us, eschatological interpretations of the Great Pyramid’s “prophecies” have an abysmal batting record.

But after three major earthquakes brought devastation to Sumatra and Samoa in late September-early October 2009, the possibility that our world could meet a cataclysmic end was in the air once again. Could seismic activity in this part of the world herald the detonation of the Yellowstone Supercaldera, the collapse of Cumbre Vieja on the Canarian island of La Palma into the ocean, or unleash devastating forces in the Puerto Rico trench? Apparently no prophet has stepped forth to set an exact date.

Alfonso Ferrer’s excellent El Reloj del Fin del Mundo (The Doomsday Clock) (Madrid: Ed. Nowtilus, Serie Investigacion Abierta, 2008) approaches the possibility that contemporary events and very plausible could lead up to an “end of the world” every bit as spectacular as what is contained in prophecy. Wars, catastrophes, climate change and pandemics can have as shattering an effect as any Wagnerian apocalypse. Ferrer also examines other possibilities, such as “the creation of a micro black hole” through misguided scientific experimentation as a way to clean our clocks.

With the five major extinctions that have already occurred on Earth over millions of years as his springboard, Ferrer says the following about a putative sixth extinction: “The main characteristic of this sixth extinction is that it could be accelerated by human hands. The 20th century has characterized itself for extraordinary technological development, greater than any other moment in history. Potentially hazardous technologies, such as the manipulation of nuclear energy, genetic modification, have come to light in recent decades. On the other hand, we live at a time in which development is linked to planetary changes. We consume resources, and resources run out. In other words, we would be the cause of a future massive disappearance of species.” To this he adds, ominously: “Perhaps technical development in advanced civilizations is linked to an inevitable collapse. This could be the reason for which we have never received signals from any alien civilization. They were probably victims of their own advancement, falling prey to the exhaustion of their energy sources.”

Ferrer’s end of the world scenario, while not tied to a given year (although he does mentioned a possible asteroid impact in 2036), is inexorable. The year 2012 and Mayan long count aside, we are shuffling toward our own disappearance unless a major breakthrough takes place that allows us to continue our breakneck expansion.

The only problem with El Reloj del Fin del Mundo is that it remains untranslated, but with the thirst for information on possible outcomes for our species, it is an oversight that a publisher will surely correct.

Luis Burgos: 332 Cases in Argentina in 2009

Source: Diario PopularDate: 10.05.09

Luis Burgos: 332 UFO Cases in Argentina in 2009

Argentina is a vast theater of operations for the alien civilizations that visit us. This what experts in the subject believe, and of course, the repetition of incidents that attest to this phenomenon. Sightings of vehicles, abductions, ground evidence; bedroom visitations and other exceptional situations are described in a quotidian manner by a countless number of witnesses. This year was no exception, and up to late September, the count stood at 332 cases. All of these are under study due to their considerable credibility quotient and they make Argentina one of the areas most frequented by alien visitors.

The figure is the result of the detailed work of noted researcher Luis Burgos, president of the Fundacion Argentina de Ovnilogia, who told Expedientes Secretos that despite the high number of episodes recorded during the first nine months of 2009, “we are actually in a plateau phase, which is typical after last year’s great UFO wave, which ended with 550 reported cases. The plateau phase is to be expected, which occurs in a slow, constant downturn. The 2008 effect endured throughout the country in the summer, but once the fall began, the UFO phenomenon behaved as it has been expected to behave for over six decades and its activity decreased. Only those areas known as hot-spots retained their activity, although some of these also experienced a decrease [in activity].”

The Province of Buenos Aires, according to FAO study, is a key region that includes the Federal Capital area. “The Porteño region reports permanent sightings of strange flying objects, even with diurnal and nocturnal photographs and videos. For example, the material presented by Hector Boetto (www.cieloaguatierra.blogspot.com). Unidentified air traffic over the Argentinean capital is still a pending matte, especially with the total passivity of the media and government authorities...The area of Vicente Lopez, to the north of the city, is one of the highest UFO manifestation areas in the entire country. Incredibly, events are reported at different times of day in Munro, Olivos, Florida, etc. and a considerable quantity of photos of these objects are taken, such as the remarkable sightings by Matías Mannara in Munro (www.solidaevidencia.com.ar) and Bibiana Bryson (www.freewebs.com/bibianabryson/misavistamientos.com), which include unique documents showing spindle-shaped UFOs among others. Phantom UFOs have also been picked up at Villa Ballester, near Vicente Lopez,” says Burgos in his report.

Burgos highlights in his report that “lovely Mar del Plata always surprises us with manifestations of all types, and while it isn’t the exceptional case history offered by the 1960s to the 1990s, in recent years, the Sierra de los Padres area has turned into a new area for “phantom UFOs”. Proof of this can be seen in the permanent records obtained by Graciela Donalisio and Leonardo Rieger.”

Reflections on the Terra.es Video Hoax

Reflections on the Terra.es Saucer Hoax

As it turns out, had it not been for the investigative efforts of UFO researcher and broadcaster Bruno Cardeñosa and his team at La Rosa de los Vientos (a program airing nightly on Spain’s Onda Cero network), the hoax perpetrated by Terra.es would have gone on until – one supposes – late October, when the anniversary of Orson Welles’ 1939 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” would have been celebrated by disclosing the third and final video of the sequence, which Terra released reluctantly yesterday to the anger of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, including investigators and writers in the UFO field, saucer enthusiasts, and simply those who were angered at seeing another “viral marketing” campaign for yet another unknown product, but this time using ufology as a prop.

Ricardo Campos, the researcher who alerted the community to the existence of the second installment of the sorry saga, has observed that UFO videos have “a whiff of adolescence” about them. And he’s right.

When it comes to UFO videos -- and the ease with which they can be created thanks to the breakthroughs of home computing, software that was once the province of George Lucas’s ILM Team is now within the reach of the clever casual user – caveat emptor has been the byword since Mexico’s Polanco UFO of 1997. And that twelve year-old effort was magnificent, when compared to the ham-fisted “product” offered by Terra. Since then, video experts have rolled the proverbial apple of discord into the hallowed halls of UFO research with complex hoaxed videos, setting believers against those who decry the hoax. Some of us, however, envy the skill of these electronic wizards who can cause Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon to cavort over the cloudy skies of Mexico City.

Perhaps the most distressing angle in the situation can be found in the ranks of believers who insisted on the video being real, offering further proof that “aliens-from-space-are-engaged-in-a-war-against-the-world’s-military” and that the dark forces of Tau Ceti (or some other star system) are arrayed against our world. Contemporary science fiction, alas, isn’t nearly as good as ufology.

And so, the October 2009 Galician Trawler UFO Video joins the ranks of over hoaxes, sitting comfortably next to the Haitian UFO fraud, clinking glasses of virtual champagne and exchanging knowing winks...there’s an empty chair beside them, waiting for the next video hoax.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Spain: TERRA Acknowledges Saucer Hoax

The truth will out. TERRA.es has acknowledged that the "Galician Trawler UFO Video" and the even worse "Galician UFO Recovery Video" were tributes to The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (or the radio broadcast by Orson Welles). To judge from the 288 comments left on TERRA's page, people are not happy with this tribute. See for yourselves:

Background Paper: The Galician UFO Wave (1995-1996)

Manuel Carballal's "A UFO Alert in Spain" first appeared in the SAMIZDAT newsletter (Fall 1996 issue) and was subsequently reprinted in the pages of INEXPLICATA. We are reprinting it yet again as a background paper for the activity which may or may not be taking place in Galicia at this time.

A UFO Alert in SpainBy Manuel Carballal(translated by Scott Corrales)

Galicia has been swept by a wave of sightings since the end of 1995. On November 28th, the monitoring system of the As Gándaras Arsenal (Lugo) filmed several UFOs over its facilities. UFO investigators reported to the scene, confirming what Spain's military establishment had already feared: UFOs are conducting reconnoitering that country's military installations.

Tuesday, November 28th 1995Las Gandaras Arsenal, Lugo.8:30 p.m.

The sentry took another glance at the monitor's screen. Routine night watches at the base in which he was fulfilling his obligatory military service were usually boring in extreme. Nothing exciting ever happened. Until now...

The camera scanned the outside areas, searching for anyone trying to breach the base's perimeter. Upon taking another look at the monitor, the soldier was shocked. What was that thing? A few meters over the barbed wire fence, clearly distinct from the base's floodlights, was an oval, discoidal object, hanging motionlessly in space.

This was not the first time that unidentified flying objects had paid a visit to the military arsenal. The series of visits had commenced four days earlier, when numerous area residents were able to witness the apperance of "flying saucers".

Goyan, the young editor of the Lugo-based daily, picked up the phone almost automátically. She placed the receiver to her ear while pouring herself the umpteenth cup of coffee. At the other end of the line, a middle-aged man was telling her that he had just seen a "flying saucer" over the As Gándaras soccer field while driving his car from O Ceao toward the train station.

The phone rang again a short while later. Now it was an elderly woman, a resident of As Gándaras, telling her that she had just witnessed a strange object flying over the area. "Rather than being scared," the witness explained, "I'm surprised, because in spite of my age, I'd never seen anything like it before."

Goyan scribbled a few notes and hung up the phone, feeling curious and upset. The joke was going on for far too long. Who was trying to make fun of her with all these Martian stories?, she thought.

The phone rings once more, bringing out of her reverie. This time its a man with a mature-sounding voice and a confident tone of voice, although somewhat tinged by emotion. He informs her of a new sighting in the area: he had just a UFO emitting bright flashes of light at low altitude--low enough to see "large windows" and clear enough to be able to tell that "no one was inside."

Thus, the skeptical newspaperwoman became involved in what was swiftly becoming an extraordinary UFO flap. Apparently, a flying saucer with large windows and blue, red and yellow tail was crossing the skies over As Gándaras. She called one of the newspaper's photographers, Agrelo, and they both hit the road. However, neither of them was able to find anything strange. Not even the residents at the local nursing home, nor the bar owners in the area, nor the soccer players practicing at a nearby field, reported seeing anything unusual. The journalists' UFO adventure had not lasted very long at all.

To make matters worse, upon returning to the newsroom, their fellow reporter and superior, Paco García Gómez (according to his own account) handed them a teletype which had recently arrived at the newspaper.

The newswire explained that between November 9th and December 12th, eight high-altitude balloons would be launched from the La Virgen del Camino Air Base in León as part of a military meteorological exercise. "The villagers of As Gándaras must have seen one of those weird balloons," thought the journalists. This belief was reflected in a brief article the following day. Yet inspite of this vague explanation, the "UFO Invasion" had not concluded in the least.

Friday, December 22 1995As Gándaras Arsenal, Lugo11:00 a.m.

The truth must be found, and if possible, the priceless visual evidence had to be secured. We were in the offices of Brigadier Amado, an impeccably dressed military man in fatigues, with a shaved head and a poker face. "What happened on November 24th?" "Something strange," the officer replied. "Some objects were spinning around, but we have no idea what they were." "Did they move?" "As you can see in the film, the larger one is still and there are others on its left that move strangely, in a south-southeast direction." "Who saw them?" "The lieutenant and a few soldiers. Besides, it was recorded on a security camera located some 15 feet off the ground."

True enough, the entire perimeter of the base is monitored from the main turret -- an army arsenal which due to its sensitive contents merits all available military protection.

The visit to the base facilities, the interviews with civilian and military witnesses and with the journalists who covered the story, as well as research carried out in the police headquarters and Guardia Civil barracks allowed us to reconstruct the events. This is more or less what happened.

Thursday, November 28, 1995As Gándaras Arsenal, Lugo9:00 PM

The soldier didn't believe his eyes. No matter how much he strained his vision, he could not visually see what the infrared monitor was showing him. A giant oval object appeared to be suspended in the sky, facing the base, turning its lights on and off at random, enabling onlookers to make out its rhomboidal shape.

The weather conditions were far from ideal. The skies were overcast and even though there had been isolated showers and the temperature ranged between 10 and 7 degrees, there was no meteorological phenomenon which would account for the presence of that strange object.

After making sure that the monitor wasn't defective, he notified his unit chief immediately, as was his duty. The lieutenant and a number of soldiers observed the UFO through the screen, apparently static in the sky, just over the barbed wire and searchlights on the base's perimeter. But with the naked eye, all they could see were some strange lights moving erratically in the heavens.

The Media Gets the Word

Simultaneously, at a soccer field less than 50 meters away from the base, Eduardo, a coach for the La Milagrosa team, and several of his players observed the very same lights in the sky.

Manuel Díaz Souto, the field manager, was killing time as usual on that evening, feeling bored and resigned as the local teams played. Suddenly, a group of soldiers invaded his office.

"They told me to dim the stadium lights without any further explanations," Díaz Souto said. "The spoke hurriedly among themselves and by means of a transmitter, to their headquarters. The moved nervously from one end of the room to another. They shot furtive glances toward the sky as if looking for something, but they didn't tell me what it was all about."

The base's lieutenant had phoned the offices of Televisión de Galicia in Lugo, which is located in precisely the same building as the El Progreso newspaper. The officer requested the presence of a camera crew with a long-range Betacam, in hopes of capturing the UFO on video as clearly as possible.

Unfortunately the equipment was unavailable at that precise moment, but despite the situation, reporter Sabella Corbelle and photographer José Vázquez reported to the base during the sighting and were able to witness the images shown through the surveillance monitor. "At one point," said one of the journalists, "we had the impression that the smaller objects were darting into the larger one." The witnesses added that the phenomenon lasted almost all night. While the soldiers mobilized in search of the UFO, the lieutenant prepared the appropriate report, and as expected, a heavy shroud of silence fell over the cases at the moment in which the officer sealed the file to send it to his superiors.

The Official Story

According to the military, the UFOs photographed and sighted at the base were "the lights of some car on the hillside" and the "lights from the quarry at Ferbedoira." Upon scanning the area and visiting the quarry, we learned that there were no mountains in the SSE direction of the base, and the only illumination for the quarry at 21:00 hrs. is a sad and lonely light post.

Marcelino Requejo, a ufologist based in Lugo, provided us other important details. "The case of November 28th isn't an isolated incident. A veritable flood of sightings is taking place in this region, coinciding with some seismic disturbances, about 70 of them this month alone. And as if this wasn't enough," Requejo added, "between the 23rd and the 28th, two jet fighters were flying over the area at low altitude. What were they looking for?"

The final answer to this question, and the enigma posed by the UFO video obtained at the army post, will probably remain concealed within the report prepared by the base commander. It shall become merely another of the manifold reports of strange situations investigated by the authorites, and which are later silenced.

II. SPAIN: SAUCER INVASION 1996

Science writer Arthur C. Clarke sagely observed in his book Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations that when an elderly and distinguished scientist argues that something is impossible, he is usually wrong. This observation describes the attitude held by a segment of Spain's UFO research community, who felt in their hearts that the "heroic age" of ufology (the 1970's) was well behind them and that no further massive waves would ever take place within our lifetimes.

They couldn't begin to imagine how wrong they were.

January 1996 had already produced a considerable number of sightings: the residents of Pedrona (Santander) witnessed the passing of a luminous oval object in the skies over their town; several witnesses in the coastal city of Gijón managed to see a UFO hanging over the sea at night, illuminating the darkness with multicolored lights; in As Pontes, cameraman Bartolomé Vázquez was able to film the maneuvers of a triangular UFO which he described as an "upside down steam iron." The Vázquez sighting was considered to be of great importance, since he managed to capture two jet fighters in pursuit of the slow-moving triangle.

The wave was quickly being covered by private camcorder users and local television stations, such as the one in the Galician town of Monforte de Lemos. A camera crew from Channel 55 was able to report to a section of town where hundreds of witnesses stood spellbound, gazing at a giant oval UFO which remained suspended overhead for exactly an hour. The station allegedly received over two hundred phone calls reporting sightings throughout the area.

Another outstanding feature of the current flap is the highly visible presence of government and military elements in the area. High-ranking army officers were seen in the populations of Santaballa, Villabla and As Pontes inspecting the locations where the UFO events had transpired and interviewing certain witnesses.

Andres Landeira, a resident of Galicia, Spain's northwestern corner, had no idea he was about to become a protagonist of UFO drama when on the night of February 26, 1996 he found that his car was unable to climb the steep hill which led back to his home in the city of Lugo.

The perplexed driver changed gears, but the sedan refused to budge. It was then that Landeira realized that the car was rising into the air. Panicking, he opened the door, hoping to jump to safety from whatever nameless fate awaited him, but he realized he was well over thirty feet in the air. "I held on to the steering wheel with all my might," Landeira would later tell UFO invesigator Manuel Carballal, "I forced my back into the driver's seat and thought I was going to die, being taken to God knows where...Hell! I was really scared."

But the car was not spirited off into the black skies. Landeira observed that whatever had picked him up deposited him back onto the road just slightly ahead of his original position, but sideways. Aside from being badly frightened by the experience, the driver wasn't negatively affected. The only reminder of the event was the car's dashboard clock, which froze at precisely ten minutes before two o'clock in the morning.

According to investigations carried out in the localities of Guitiriz, Firbra and Samos, an employee of the local telephone company -- who requested anonymity -- witnessed strange lights and luminous phenomena in the heavens close to the place where Andrés had his hair-raising experience. And in the Mesón Porta Nova, in the vicinity, we were told that strange blackouts and brownouts had taken place that evening.

Andrés is a "trustworthy man," in the words of his friends and neighbors, who argue that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that he is lying or otherwise dissembling. "Si ó Andrés di que o seu coche volou polo aire, e que volou polo aire..." (If Andrés says that his car flew through the air, then it flew through the air), said Pablo, owner of Ramiro's Bar, when we visited him to confirm that the witness had not consumed any alcohol on that evening.

And in the same way that Andrés Landeira circumscribes himself to telling us an experierience which appears to be a fabrication, but which he swears to have lived, dozens of people in villages, towns and cities of northwestern Spain have shared with us extraordinary accounts related to the UFO wave which is sweeping across Galicia and Asturias in recent months. An inexplicable wave of sightings, close encounters and even landings of unknown spaceships, unprecedented in Spanish history...

A "UFO Invasion" Caught on Videotape

Manuel Carlos Orejas greeted us cordially at the newsroom of TV-6, the local television station in As Pontes de García Rodríguez (La Coruña), on the morning of February 15, 1996. Only hours earlier, at 19:50 hrs. the previous evening, he had managed to film, a strange object which had benn seen hovering over the ENDESA thermoelectric station for a number of weeks. It was the second time that a local station from As Pontes captured a UFO on tape. Six days earlier, alerted by telephone calls from all over the neighborhood, a cameraman from the very same station had filmed the startling images.

After interviewing the video camera operators separately, we headed for the As Pontes sheriff's office. We were told that dozens of neighbors claimed to have seen UFOs in the area. The authorities claim to have rejected the case officially, but we have been able to confirm that at least one "official report" on this uncanny UFO flap has already been written. The "saucers" have become the fashionable subject of conversation in Galicia, a bona fide social phenomenon. It is worth noting that carnival-goers this year disguised themselves in a variety of extraterrestrial and alien outfits. Even promotional signs for the carnival, published by the As Pontes Chamber of Comerce, announced the celebrations as "The UFO Route-The Intergalactic Ones."

As noted earlier, a number of UFO sightings had taken during the months of September and October in Galicia, culminating in the spectacular events taking place over As Gándaras.

The first document produced on the 1996 "leg" of the UFO flap was on Thursday, January 25, when Bartolomé Vázquez, a resident of As Pontes, filmed a triangular UFO pursued by two Spanish Air Force interceptors. He would later see other strange objects in Galician skies, and what is even more surprising, on one of these subsequent occasions, a UFO hovered directly over his vehicle while he travelled in the company of his wife and children. The unknown craft allegedly damaged the car's roof. Vázquez also claims that his brother had a similar encounter around the same time, but in that incident, "his car's engine died when the UFO flew over it, and all the car doors opened at once..."

Other local television stations, such as Channel 55 in Monforte de Lemos, have captured images similar to Vázquez's, as in the case which transpired on the evening-night of February 14, 1996. From the Val de Lemos neighborhood and adjacent streets, a number of citizens witnessed an oval object, with a mobile light beneath it, suspended from the sky. According to Pilar Valera, Channel 55's director, the TV station's newsroom received more than 200 phone calls regarding UFO sightings. One of the station's camera crews managed to reach the location just in time to join dozens of neighbors witnessing the phenomenon. They were able to film the saucer just minutes before it vanished.

Emotion Overcomes the Witnesses

As far as home videos, which proliferate throughout Galicia, are concerned, we have had the opportunity to analyze a very curious one. It was obtained in Lugo the very same day that the cameras of Channel 55 acquired their prized images in Monforte. At 22:30 hrs., Carlos Méndez, Angeles Castro, her husband Bernardo and the couple's daughter witnessed the maneuvers of some very luminous, spherical objects. The deeply emotional interjections recorded on the film's audio track are indicative of the intense anxiety which overcame the eyewitnesses during the sighting. While the strange objects join, separate, and divide on the television screen, the unbridled screams of the witnesses illustrate the intensity of the emotional experience. That very same night, barely half an hour earlier, three citizens interviewed by this author confirmed that they had also seen a very luminous object from the heights of Mt. San Pedro in La Coruña. Was this the UFO? All the facts indicate that it was, or at least one very similar to it.

Official Concern

Reliable police sources in Galicia, consulted during our investigation, confirmed that several Guardia Civil headquarters were give orders to investigate the unusual Spanish saucer wave and were told to forward their confidential reports to Madrid. We have been able to confirm this detail with the General Headquarters of the Guardia Civil.

What at first blush seems uniportant soon becomes a valuable source of information with which to verify the numerous accounts collected throughout the Spanish northwest: never before had the the UFO phenomenon caused such concern among the nation's security forces. In many communities, locals advised us that high-ranking officers had appeared at the locations where the sightings took place. There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of those witnesses who alleged having seen jet interceptors flying over the area before or after the UFO was reported.

Manuel Antón ran into an offical Army car whose passengers were of the top brass. "As soon as I saw them, I supposed that they'd come to see about the UFO business, because at that time people couldn't talk about anything else."

Residents of Santaballa, Villalba and As Pontes claimed having seen a colonel and a general in the sighting area. And since November 28th, 1995, the night of the As Gándaras incident, numerous witnesses have allegedly head the sound of jet fighters flying over the area: on December 1, 1995 from Cospeito (Lugo), on February 8 from Sarriá (Lugo), on February 19 in As Gándaras, etc.

That's not all. Upon visiting small Guardia Civil stations, such as the one located in Villalba, or other police stations in both Galicia and Asturias, we learned that memmbers of the Guardia Civil had witnessed UFOs themselves. Last, but not least, a number of renowned civillian investigators with considerable credibility became witnesses themselves during this wave.

On 21:15 hrs. on February 11, 1996, Ana Gallego, Miguel Pedrero, José María Lesta and Alejandro Navarro were transiting along the road to As Pontes, which runs by the ENDESA thermoelectric plant, a focus for UFO activity. The friends suddenly became aware of a weird, luminous yellow object. Pulling over, they were able to observe that the sphere increased sized dramatically, changing its hue to a deep red. It later altered its configuration, changing into an elongated, rectangular object which they later defined as "a kind of train or bus in the sky." After questioning each of the UFO investigators individually, three of them clearly coincided on the description, and the fourth's story seemed a little vague. The explanation for this difference, rather than casting doubt upon the story, only confirms it, since we later learned that the fourth witness (Pedrero) is acutely myopic, and didn't have his eyeglasses on at the time of the sighting.

Earlier, from Monte de la Espenuca in Betanzos (Coruña), three of these four investigators had already witnessed a luminous phenomenon. We also questioned them separately on that occasion, and they all coincided in describing a "rhomboidal structure" which flew over their heads. They were able to photograph the object at that time, as it left a luminous wake whose glow reflected off the treetops.

Other ufologists in the northwest have also had good fortune. Renowned investigator Marcelino Requejo was in the town of Santaballa interviewing witnesses when he sighted a UFO, and still has several minutes of footage to show for it.

There is another account which leaves us no room for doubting: the one made by the most highly regarded of Galicia's ufologists, Carlos Fernández, who sighted a triangular object on 8;45 a.m. on February 15th, as he drove along the road from Porrillo to Villasobroso (Pontevedra). According to Fernández, the UFO could be clearly seen in the morning sky, and reflected the sun's light on the upper half of its structure.

Northern Close Encounters

The violent snowstorms which blanket the Spanish northwest in the winter made access to some of the mountain communities in Galicia and Asturias nearly impossible. Some mountain passes, sealed off by heavy snowfall, as well as many valleys and mountain peaks have become the stages for extraordinary "close encounters" during this UFO wave. But the weather kept us from gaining access to some of the areas in which these occured. In two occasions, were were completely snowbound, and on the third, after having driven approximately a thousand miles visiting villages, towns and cities in the region, our car broke down for good -- a fact which didn't keep us from experiencing the ultimate UFO story of the trip: even the tow-truck driver who came to "rescue" us had witnessed the UFO flap. Was it mere chance that UFO activity shoud intensify precisely in those areas where human access was virtually impossible?

Galicia is not alone in its UFO odyssey. Neighboring Asturias has lived through incredible UFO-related experiences, some of which confirmed accounts collected in Galicia.

On Sunday, February 25, for instance, at around 21:30 hrs., several witnesses observed a triangular object which shamelessly "exhibited" itself in the sky of the town of Aller. Similar triangular craft have been seen repeatedly over Galicia, particularly during this flap, such as the events which transpired in the town of Mirandela.

Emilio Díaz Burgos and José Angel García, veteran Asturian ufologists whom we interviewed in their residence at Moreda, put us on the track of some Asturian cases which not only coincided with the "look and feel" of the Galician UFOs, but which had even occurred on the same day. One of the most valuable items of information in this regard, provided by the two ufologists, is that on the very same day that the As Gándaras event took place (November 26, 1995), a metal-grey cigar-shaped object was seen hanging in mid-air between noon and 4 p.m., as attested by over 20 witnesses in the town of Coforcos (Oviedo).

Raiders of Electric Light?

The most surprising fact, however, is that if the majority of Galician case histories have taken place around the As Pontes power station, the Asturian events are occurring around the power station at Mieres. In fact, there is a village named Muriellos in the vicinity which does not appear on the maps -- not even the Guardia Civil was able to provide us with its location. After driving around the hills and valleys of the region, we came upon the hamlet, which contains the "base" of the Hermandad RAMA (RAMA Brotherood), a UFO contactee-luciferian cult which along with other Spanish contacee cults, has also been at the center of bizarre cases.

Both Galicians and Asturians agree upon the same object when it comes to describing close encounters.

In the small hours of January 29th, Fe and Julia, two young women from Villalba were driving along the Meira highway on their way back home. They became aware of a strange orange glow which emanated from a nearby forest. Suddenly, they found themselves faced with a semispherical object which was rising from behind the trees. The UFO, whose diameter they estimated at some 20-30 feet, was close enough for the women to distinguish a sort of "metal door" on the object's fuselage. The sighting made them so nervous that they were unable to continue driving the car. After interviewing the friends separately (as is customary in these cases), they coincided in their story and in the descriptions of the emotions produced by the sighting. Upon questioning them concerning the manner in which the object had finally disappeared, both replied. "It's as if the earth had swallowed it."

We frequently employ a catalogue of hundreds of UFO photographs for the witness to point out an image which most closely resembles what they saw. Both of them chose, out of a hundred possible options, the very same image.

When Fe and Julia spoke of their encounter at work the following day, they were jeered at by their co-workers. For this very reason, they do not wish their story widely publicized. An infinity of similar cases occur throughout Spain.

Barely a week prior to this incident, a similar object, perhaps the very same, was seen in Asturias by Moserrat and Camilo Rivera Alonso. Fifteen days earlier, Camilo explained, a smaller spherical object crossed the region flying low and at a prodigious speed. Another farming couple not far from the Riveras recently had a coinciding encounter.

"You'd Never Hope To See Such A Thing!"

Proaza is a gorgeous local community that embodies as none other the beauty of the Asturian countryside, between verdant forests and snow-capped summits. On February 15, 1996, at 20:05 hrs., another strange sphere became visible in the region. Sara, a spry golden-ager who kindly welcomed us into her home, told us about her experience: "I was here at home when my husband called me from the backyard, saying that there was some weird critter out by the trees. I paid him no mind at first, but he kept on shouting. I went out and saw the thing. It was round, very big, with sticks coming out of its sides. When it lit up, it lit up the surroundings, you know?...I'm old and I've seen a lot, but you'd never hope to see such a thing!"

Less than a hundred feet away from the house, at exactly the same time that the strange sphere was visible on the ground, a luminous cigar-shaped object remain suspended in the sky over Proaza, toward the town of Grado, or "coincidentally," in the direction of Galicia, the very same flight path followed by so many unidentified flying objects.

Antonio Sáinz, president of the Asturias Pedagogical Society, is a resident of Tuñón, and in mid-February became part of the interminable roll call of witnesses to this spectacular UFO flap.

Antonio had gone to Sabadía, scant kilometers from Proaza, hoping to relax from his stressful job. He parked his car in front of the beautiful hermitage at the site, lit a cigaret and listened to some classical music. Suddenly, a strange reddish light began descending from the sky, filtered through the windshield. Antonio looked out the window and was stunned to find an oval object suspended right above the hermitage. "What surprised me the most was the light it gave off, like a pulsating glow. It was incredible..." Terrified, he crawled under the dashboard. "All I wanted was for that thing to go away without seeing me," he recalls.

He remained curled on the car floor for a few minutes, but in a burst of courage whipped a small camera out of the glove compartment and took a photo of the UFO. The object began rising slowly, finally disappearing behind a neighboring mountain.

Precisely at that very spot, other witnesses had noticed strange luminous shapes "playing" around the treetops, accompanied by a spectacular glow which lit up the entire mountainside.

Strange Creatures

What if those unusual objects had landed? Were they manned by intelligent beings? The answers to these questions may be found in recent cases collected during our journey which are as incredible as they are unusual, but truthful nonetheless. The reader will have to draw his or her own conclusions.

On Sunday, February 18, two children, Eugenio Alvarez and Tito Pérez were playing in the Cabeza da Vella woods in the town of Entrimo (Orense) near the border with Portugal. At 21:30 hrs., both noticed three luminous spheres which flew around one of the high-tension towers. They merged into a single luminous form which turned into "two saucers on top of each other" before vanishing. From the town, numerous witnesses, Lisardo González among them, saw the same event, but the best was still to come.

On the following day, upon returning to the site, the children found the footprints of "something that wasn't human." The first ufologists reporting to the scene a few days later were able to see them although they had mostly been erased by rainfall. However, a trail of nonhuman prints, approximately 900 feet long, could be seen. After discarding any possibility that an animal could have made the prints, the investigators concluded that a bipedal creature, some 6 to 7 feet tall, was walking in the area, and did so just after the UFO appeared in Entrimo.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In other cases, and always according to the most convincing descriptions of the dozens of witnesses we've interviewed, the "strange beings" have never been so elusive, although we may withhold our own judgement on the credibility of these accounts due to their level of high strangeness.

One of these took place in the Asturian community of Llandemieres. Last summer, a cattle rancher who prefers to remain anonymous, became the protagonist of an incredible story. At two o'clock in the afternoon, he was riding his horse back home when he noticed a flying "puppet" gliding over the treetops some 300 feet away. As the creature came closer, the rancher was able to make out its inhuman features. Its head was very large, with short arms, and what surprised the rancher most: "It had a kind of screen on its chest!"

The horse was frightened by the intruder and threw its rider to the ground, but even as he lay on the ground, the rancher was able to see "the flying thing" vanish into the trees.

Two days later, and for reasons that remain unclear, the Chief of Police of the Aller district questioned the rancher. When we visited the police station, the chief responded: "based upon my experience, I'm certain that the man isn't lying."

A similar creature was also seen in Proaza a long time ago, and its description coincides with other cases in Galicia. The Galician counterpart occurred in Cospeito (Lugo) in 1987, at the center of the region that is experiencing the massive wave. Serafín Pena Teijeiro ran into two strange creatures which "flew over a tree". The beings measured less than three feet in height, according to his description.

On March 1st, three red-and-white spheres were seen descending from the sky once more near Entrimo, close to the site where the footprints were discovered. On the morning of March 7, a farmer from Ferrerías (Friol), José Manuel Castro, witnessed the landing of a UFO on his farm just 100 feet away from his home. "Small creatures came out of the thing, looking like monkeys," he claimed. The vehicle left marks on the ground and nonhuman footprints were photographed in the area, looking very similar to those at Entrimo. Only minutes before Castro had this mind-bending visit, a number of locals and residents of Orense reported seeing strange lights in the sky.

What is the reason for this unprecedented UFO wave in Spanish history? Why are UFOs concentrating their activity in the northwestern region? There are no answers. Something inexplicable, but of great importance, is taking place since the beginning of the year, not only in Spain, but around the world. Meanwhile, the sightings continue.

III. A CHRONOLOGY OF SPANISH CASES FROM THE 1995-1996 UFO WAVE

Three months prior to the start of the Galician UFO wave, an Asturian farmer encounters a bizarre flying humanoid.

11.26.95 A rhomboidal UFO remains suspended over the military installation of As Gándaras for 9 hours.

12.08.95 A number of Galician ufologists see a "train" of lights in the sky over the ENDESA thermoelectric plant.

01.25.96 Bartolomé Vázquez films a triangular UFO over As Pontes, Galicia; He describes the UFO as an "upside-down steam iron."

01.26.96 Several residents of Gijón witness a UFO suspended over the ocean, lighting the waters with multicolored lights.

01.28.96 Two young women from Villalba encounter a light with a door on its fuselage.

01.00.96 Several witnesses in Pedrona (Santander) see a strange oval UFO, resembling a luminous cloud, emitting bursts of light every two seconds. It disappears abruptly after twenty minutes. In the final days of 1995, cattlemen from Saja and Liébana along the Cantabric Range reported seeing objects similar to "little suns."

02.00.96 Eyewitnesses from the communities of Punta Umbría, Playa Antilla, El Rompido and other points along the Huelva shoreline (southern Spain) see strange spherical lights.

02.06.96 Residents of Alcobendas, a suburb of the Spanish capital, Madrid, see a brilliant green spherical object. The UFO, which left a small wake in its path, rose vertically until it disappeared.

02.09.96 A red sphere remains suspended over the the town of Jarandilla (Cáceres) in southern Spain for an hour. One witness videotapes the event.

02.08.96 Strange unidentified lights seen by residents of Sarriá in Galicia. Soon after, two jet fighters are seen pursuing the lights.

02.15.96 A triangular object is witnessed from Mondariz, near Vigo, reflecting the sun's light on its underside.

02.18.96 Several witnesses see UFOs in Entrimo (Orense). Shortly after, the footprints of a nonhuman creature are found in the area (extraterrestrial?)

02.14.96 Numerous residents in Monforte de Lemos witness an oval object with a moving light on its base. Local television obtains footage of the same.

02.20.96 A cigar-shaped vehicle with brilliant lights is seen by several witnesses over Palmas de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands.

02.26.96 Andrés Landeira's car is levitated some 30 feet off the ground by an unknown force.

02.27.96 An elongated, cigar-shaped vehicle is seen over the suburbs of the city of Zaragoza. The object emits a reddish-white light.

03.07.96 A farmer from Friol witnesses the landing of a UFO on his property and the descent of simian ufonauts from within.

IV.TRIANGULAR STARSHIPS OR SECRET WEAPONS?

A startling percentage of the accounts we've gathered during the Galicia/Asturias wave include the presence of triangular artifacts. These triangular UFOs were reported on January 3 in Burela and Mariñaleda, on January 25 in As Pontes, a day later in Santaballa and Villalba, on February 15 near Vigo, on February 20 in Mirandela, etc.

The most surprising fact about these cases is that they have consistently occurred in northwestern Spain. We have managed to interview a great number of witnesses who have experienced these sightings over the past 10 years in Galicia.

On June 23, 1987, for example, investigator Roberto Carlos Miras was in the Galician town of Oza de los Rios when a gigantic triangular aircraft equipped with a gyrating central light, flew over his head at low altitude. Other witnesses reported UFOs that very same night in La Coruña.

A Jesuit priest, Pedro Pablo Requejo, observed a colossal triangle with a similar description on May 1, 1988 from Mugardos, near El Ferrol. At the same time, other witnesses were reporting UFOs in Asturias, and surprisingly enough, the Spanish Air Force shows a report for that very same day which remains classified as secret. This object, or one similar, has been seen relatively frequently in the provinces of La Coruña and Pontevedra (Galicia). In some cases, such as the sighting which occurred in the suburbs of La Coruña in 1983, we subjected some of the witnesses to hypnotic regression in order to secure more information on the sightings. In others, such as the one which occurred in El Portiño near La Coruña in 1982, a triangular object was seen by a number of witnesses as it plunged into the sea. A witness in Vigo described the features of the craft's fuselage in detail after a sighting in 1992, due to the proximity of the unknown vehicle. Photos of the triangular vehicles have been taken on occasion (Betanzos, 1994; Vigo, 1989; Pontevedra, 1990), but there is a particularly important case regarding triangular UFOs in the Spanish northwest: it is known as the "Fernando Martínez Case."

It happened in October 1986 at an old quarry near Culleredo (Galicia). Fernando had been practicing motor-cross on his dirt bike until dusk. He sat on a rock to light a cigaret and rest when he noticed that a triangular object was descending toward him. Gripped by panic, he tried to kick-start his dirt bike, which had just been in the shop for a tune-up, without any luck. According to Fernando's story, he suddenly felt invaded by a sensation of physical calm while the UFO descended to within 6 feet of the quarry floor. A beam of light was fired from its central light, and two small, large-headed humanoids descended along the beam. They approached the human, and all that he recalls after that point is being in a very luminous chamber. He was placed upon a "stretcher" and subjected to medical testing.

As a result of his unusual experience, Fernando was unable to account for two hours out of his life and sported a small scar which lasted for several weeks, aside from experiencing an emotional trauma regarding anything having to do with UFOs.

Triangular UFOs have been seen frequently all around the word. In some cases, these objects turned out to be secret flights of experimental aircraft such as the F-117 and B-2 Stealth planes. To some ufologists, these triangular craft could well be related to Project Aurora, the most sophisticated U.S. spy plane which, according to some sources, could be making experimental flights across the North Atlantic, being operated from a joint NATO/RAF base in Scotland. This would account for the apparent passivity on the part of the Spanish air forces, which are no strangers to violations of airspace by UFOs. It is likely that some triangular UFO sightings may indeed be secret weapon tests, but not even official recognition of this possibility (a remote one) would satisfactorily explain all the cases described here, unless these terrestrial UFOs turn out to be manned by macrocephalic dwarves with unheard-of technology. Unlikely, isn't it?

V. OFFICIAL CONCERN

On March 19, 1996, we travelled to Vigo to participate in a hypnotic regression session. Hypnotist Javier Alonso attempted to recover the "missing time" in the minds of two young Galician men. Something strange had happened to them a few months ago -- something they still cannot understand. José Luis and Rodrigo are physical education teachers, martial arts instructors who own gyms in the town of Ponteareas. It was there they were returning to after having participated all weekend in a course for Kung-Fu instructors in Madrid. Late in the afternoon, the friends took the route known as Nacional VI back to Galicia. It was an uneventful trip, as so many others they had made in the past. Upon reaching the town of Benavente (Zamora), they stopped for dinner, filled up the gas tank, and proceeded on their way.

But only a few minutes went past when they noticed that the landscape didn't look familiar. Both men, interviewed separately, both said that not even the Moon looked familiar. They also claim having felt a strange sensation on the nape of the neck. A road sign called their attention, leaving them throroughly bemused. They were now in Lugo, more or less in the vicinity of San Martiño: They had "jumped" through space a distance of over 80 miles.

When they were able to ascertain the reality of the uncanny "jump", both men had an instantaneous nervous breakdown. One of them began to weep uncontrollably, while the other pulled the car over onto the shoulder, too nervous to drive. The fuel gauge gave no indication of having changed, despite having covered 80 miles in such a short span of time.

José Luis's and Rodrigo's teleportation is only one of the many curious cases which have characterized the Spanish UFO wave.

The Guardia Civil Report

The clue surfaced in the Guardia Civil barracks at As Pontes.

A commentary made by the station commander captured our attention. Several of the Benemérita's outposts had rceived word from Madrid instructing them to look into the UFO wave and prepare confidential reports. Although the Guardia Civil's Public Information Office denied the subject officially, we had already learned of the existence of several official UFO reports.

After many trips, meetings and arrangements with the Guardia Civil's high command, we managed to secure the original documentation of many reports by April 1996. The first page of each report was stamped CONFIDENTIAL. All of them illustrate the preparer's concern for the social upheaval being created by the UFO sightings among the civilian population. The report prepared by the Guardia Civil station in Guitiriz on March 18, destined to the 612th Commandancy in Lugo, was particularly eloquent, as it described the experiences of Andrés Landeira, the bricklayer whose car was inexplicably levitated some 30 feet off the ground.

The report also includes other UFO incidents reported to the Gutiriz barracks during that time period: the most interesting of them discusses a concentration of 200 people who went to the bridge where Landeira had his experience in hopes of seeing a UFO. The contact experience, as could well be expected, did not go beyond sightings of shimmering Venus. Yet the state's security apparatus remained more concerned about the social impact than the sightings themselves, the power of a "saucer psychosis" affecting the Galician population's minds.

This concern is also manifested in another report, which was also prepared at the 612th Commandery and dated February 21st. Its content is clearly displayed on the first page's heading -- Subject: 3.4.1. Regarding luminous atmospheric phenomena. This report discussed the sightings reported by the residents of Monforte de Lemos during the month of February. In this instance, popular response to the phenomenon was also troubling to the Guardia Civil. But of all the official reports to which we have gained access, the most interesting among them, bar none, is the one prepared by the Guardia Civil station at Friol on March 24th. It details a number of UFO sightings produced in this Galician region, particularly the experience lived by José Manuel Castro on March 7th.

An Alien Landing?

We reached the town of Ferrerías (Friol) shortly after the parties responsible for the official investigation had left the area. In this manner we were able to see the surprising details of the case for ourselves.

Everything started before midnight on March 6, at 23:00 hours. María Fe Pena Ceide, owner of the Cantina de Retorta bar some distance away from the José Manuel Castro residence, saw a UFO. "I went to take the garbage out," she said, "and there it was, over those trees." Nearly an hour later, she went out again and saw the same object, "looking larger than the full moon, in a different location, this time directly over José Manuel's house."

At 00:15 hrs., José Manuel Castro noticed a strange glow penetrating through his window. He went outside his isolated home and was able to see a glowing sphere in whose interior could be seen the silhouetted outlines of three or four humanoids. José Manuel had never seen anything like it before, but there had been talk of such things throughout Galicia for many weeks.

Fearing that he would not be believed, he got in his car and drove to his brother's house. Yet despite all his efforts, the latter would not get out of bed to look at the UFO. This last point was confirmed by the brother himself.

When José Manuel returned home, the sphere remained fixed in the same place. Curiosity getting the better of him, he took a flashlight and began to flash signals at the UFO. "Baixade, baixade! (Come down, come down!)" he shouted. Sara, the owner of the nearest house, confirmed that she didn't see the UFO that evening, although she did hear José Manuel shouting "baixade!" outside.Then the thing came down.

When the farmer noticed that the sphere was plunging downward, he was gripped by panic and ran into his house, barricading himself behind a window, from which he was able to see the object land on his farm -- only 100 feet from the house. But the most incredible detail, according to Castro, is that a luminous "walkway" emerged from the side of the craft and that three small ufonauts descended from the craft. Scared out of his wits, Castro hid under his bed until dawn.

The Guardia Civil's official report confirms the existence of "strange footprints larger than a cow's" in the field trodden upon by the humanoids. We were able to confirm this point ourselves, since we made plaster casts of the alleged ufonauts' prints.

About Me

The Institute of Hispanic Ufology was established in October of 1998 with the appearance of the first issue of Inexplicata. The organization currently has representatives and contributing editors in over a dozen Spanish-speaking countries. Director: Scott Corrales.